


bruised

by toomoon (jjjat3am)



Category: ONEUS (Band)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Character Study, Gen, OT6 if you squint
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-18
Updated: 2019-10-18
Packaged: 2020-12-23 17:02:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 667
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21084800
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jjjat3am/pseuds/toomoon
Summary: Geonhak and ONEUS, and some of the ways they fit.





	bruised

**Author's Note:**

> just add 'Geonhak-centric character study' to my resume already

Thing is, he's tired. There's not a part of Geonhak's body that hasn't ached, bruised from hours spent in the practice room, limbs contorted into unnatural positions until it feels like they'll stay that way, stuck somewhere between a pop and a lock.

His throat feels scraped raw from hours of practice, from endless days of being told he wasn't good enough, from tears he hadn't let out even though they would have made him feel better.

His heart is the worst off. Heavy and bruised in his chest, and there are days where he has to lay still in his bed, fingers pressed to his pulse so that he can reassure himself that he still has one, that somehow, impossibly, his chest cavity doesn't sit as empty as it feels.

He's tired and even the thrill of the stage, the sweet heady shot of adrenaline from a performance well done, isn't enough to outweigh that.

*

The first time he meets Dongju, Geonhak thinks he's a little cold. It only takes a little while to realize that he's just shy and taking tentative steps out of the shadow of a brother whose personality has always been louder. 

Geonhak is an older brother. He's got a little brother about Dongju's age that annoys him by being in the same space and that he misses like a limb when he's away. It's simple to slip sideways into that role, to prod at Dongju's seemingly invulnerable spaces until they yield and thaw, and Dongju starts biting back.

*

Keonhee is loud. It's easy for Geonhak, who exists perpetually in the lower register, to get lost in the explosion of sound and motion and energy that Keonhee exudes as easy as breathing.

He doesn't realize until the first time Keonhee pushes a portion of his lunch towards him with a quiet smile because he'd noticed that Geonhak hadn't eaten yet that it's actually less about getting lost and more about being found.

He learns to find space for himself in Keonhee's quiet spots, when to push him until he's louder, funnier, bigger than life. And he realizes it doesn't make him seem smaller in comparison.

*

Sometimes Geonhak needs to be pushed. Sometimes he loses his focus on what's important, too caught up in the swirling mass of worry and self-doubt, and no way out. 

That's when Seoho waltzes in, smiling guiltlessly and trodding on Geonhak's toes, poking at his side, ready with a joke so awful that Geonhak has to laugh at it.

Sometimes Geonhak needs to be pushed and Seoho hits with the force of a sledgehammer but that's okay because Geonhak isn't that easy to topple over.

*

Hwanwoong trusts him. Trusts Geonhak to hoist his body up in the air and not step in before ground catches him. Trusts him to hold up his body supported in his arms. Trusts him enough to lean on when he's tired and about to drop, enough to fall asleep on his shoulder or in his lap.

There's always a moment, right before the music starts when his elbow is straining with the weight of supporting another body and Hwanwoong is watching him with sharp, pleased eyes, the only sign of fear the rabbit quick feel of his pulse against Geonhak's fingers. It feels like the most terrifying thing in the whole world.

And then the beat comes and muscle memory kicks in and Geonhak doesn't think about how many times Hwanwoong had already fallen, knobby knees bruised against hardwood floors, and focuses instead on not letting him fall this time.

*

Youngjo calls and says, "One more time," and Geonhak's fingers clench into terrified fists, muscle memory.

Youngjo says, "One last time," and Geonhak's battered heart moves weakly in his cavernous chest, filled with warmth and hope after what feels like days of darkness, of all-consuming exhaustion.

Youngjo says, "Try again with me," and somehow, improbably, Geonhak gatherers up what's left of his dreams, the pieces of his bruised and heavy heart, and goes.

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> [Twitter](https://twitter.com/leewoong)


End file.
